It was love at first sight when Platinum Packaging’s management saw Lantech’s ST-Series shrink tunnel at last November’s Pack Expo show in Chicago.
“We saw it at the show and believed it was really unique,” says Platinum Packaging sales manager Jack Sloan of the tunnel. “We wanted to put it on our floor.”
The machine has two side windows that allow users to see the shrink process that occurs in the tunnel. Lantech’s ViewWindow™ operator control station located just beneath one of the windows permits quick, easy setup.
“The window is really nice because if you get a customer in the plant, you can explain the shrink-wrapping process, watch the package expand, then see it come back and shrink onto the products,” he says. “Functionally, it’s easier for our operators, too, because they can see the same thing and make adjustments to temperature settings if necessary. It’s a whole lot easier to work with than to lift the curtains on traditional tunnels and look inside to see what’s happening if there’s a problem.”
Sloan also likes the tunnel’s ability to accept different package shapes and sizes without making major adjustments. “With other tunnels you have to change all kinds of settings.”
Unlike traditional tunnels that blow hot air onto the film-overwrapped packages, the ST-Series tunnels use what Lantech describes as a “soft convection” process “in an efficiently designed chamber that uniformly bathes the film bubble with hot air.”
The Lantech unit began running on one of the six new shrink-wrapping lines shortly after Pack Expo. “We wanted to see how it ran, and we purchased it. So far, it’s been used to run boxes and calendars,” notes Sloan. “We haven’t run anything really unusual on it yet, but it has the ability to run multiple types of packages.”
See the story that goes with this sidebar: Shrink wrapping shines at Platinum Packaging
